Exploring Perpetrator Trauma Among a Cohort of Violent Juvenile Offenders

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10575677231201800
• Author: Grace Mashai Mahlako,Jacques Jordaan,Matthew Cronjé
• Date: 01 December 2024
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Exploring Perpetrator Trauma

Among a Cohort of Violent

Juvenile Offenders

Grace Mashai Mahlako

1

, Jacques Jordaan

1

,

and Matthew Cronjé

2

Abstract

Globally, extensive research has been conducted on psychological trauma. The main intention of

this scientif‌ic enquiry was to provide insights into the explanatory and etiological factors of such

trauma, as well as provide measures of how to manage and treat it effectively. However, much of

these research studies on psychological trauma have focused primarily on victims and witnesses

of trauma, completely overlooking and neglecting offenders (perpetrators) and their trauma. This

study set out to explore perpetrator trauma among juvenile offenders incarcerated for violent

offenses. The study was qualitative in nature, using descriptive phenomenology to provide descrip-

tive accounts of perpetrator trauma as experienced by the participants. A sin gle case study design

was utilized as a research design. The data were collected using semistructured audio-recorded indi-

vidual interviews with 10 participants. The f‌indings supported the existenc e of perpetrator trauma

as the offenders experienced multidimensional consequences from their actions. They experienced

various symptoms related to or associated with their offenses and victims, includ ing reliving symp-

toms, psychotic symptoms, psychogenic amnesia of the offense and the victims, and experienced a

persistent negative emotional state. They also engaged in reckless and self-destructive behaviors,

avoidant behaviors, and signif‌icant behavioral changes could be noted in their behavior.

Keywords

Perpetrator trauma, juvenile offenders, incarceration, correctional center, South Africa

Introduction

The world history of violence, wars, apartheid, holocausts, and genocides has led to the develop-

ment of the concept of psychological trauma (Karam, 2019; MacNair, 2002a; Tsutsui, 2009). These

various acts of violence, which encompass human history, have led to immense psychological con-

sequences and lasting emotional harm (Archer, 2017; Dinisman & Moroz, 2017; McBrearty, 2011;

1

Department of Psychology, University of the Free State, Park West, Bloemfontein, South Africa

2

Department of Criminology, University of the Free State, Park West, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Corresponding Author:

Jacques Jordaan, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of the Free State, 205 Nelson Mandela Drive, Park

West, Bloemfontein, 9301, South Africa.

Email: jordaanj1@ufs.ac.za

Original Article

International Criminal Justice Review

2024, Vol. 34(4) 370-391

© 2023 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10575677231201800

journals.sagepub.com/home/icj

Travis, 2009). As a result, scholars worldwide have conducted extensive research (Archer, 2017;

Dinisman & Moroz, 2017; Huemer et al., 2012; McBrearty, 2011; Monson et al., 2007; Sadock

et al., 2015; Travis, 2009) in this f‌ield to understand this kind of trauma, with the American

Psychiatric Association (APA) identifying and recognizing explanatory diagnoses known as post-

traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder in efforts to effectively manage, treat,

and help individuals suffering from this kind of trauma (APA, 2013, 2022; Sadock et al., 2015).

However, most of these trauma studies and trauma-related disorders have focused primarily on

victims and witnesses of trauma, with trauma argued to be an experience primarily belonging to

victims (Mohamed, 2015; Morag, 2012; Robinson, 2018). Trauma and victimhood have always

been deemed synonymous. As a result, it was, and still is, considered unimaginable how an offender

or perpetrator might experience psychological trauma when inf‌licting violence and pain on others

(Karam, 2019; Mohamed, 2015; Morag, 2012). Instead, only victims are argued to experience this

psychological response (Mohamed, 2015). This argument was further enforced by the exclusion

of perpetration as a possible cause for trauma development, particularly PTSD and acute stress dis-

order (MacNair, 2001, 2002a, 2015).

In recent years, the question of whether causing an adverse event or perpetrating violence might

lead to psychological trauma has been posed, with various scholars attempting to generate both

empirical and theoretical literature to understand and assess its probability. Scholars who sought

to explore this phenomenon have identif‌ied that perpetrators might also experience trauma due to

their own violent acts (Anderson, 2018; Glover, 1988; Gray et al., 2003; Grossman, 1995; Harry

& Resnick, 1986; Karam, 2019; MacNair, 1999, 2001, 2002a, 2007, 2015; McGlothlin, 2020;

Mohamed, 2015; Morag, 2012; Robinson, 2018; Roldán-Sevillano, 2021; Ternes et al., 2020;

Travis, 2009; Tsutsui, 2009)—establishing that exposure to one’s violent acts causes lasting psycho-

logical harm and leads to a disruption to the individual’s moral compass (Anderson, 2018; Karam,

2019; Litz et al., 2009; MacNair, 2001, 2002a, 2007, 2012, 2015; Mohamed, 2015; Morag, 2012;

Robinson, 2018; Travis, 2009; Tsutsui, 2009). These f‌indings have led to the concept of perpetrator

trauma, which refers to the psychological response experienced by perpetrators following their own

violent offending (Mohamed, 2015). This psychological response is characterized by hallucinations,

disorientation, unexplained bodily ailment, autonomic responses, memory lapses, f‌lashbacks, night-

mares, hypervigilance, anger outbursts, and personality changes (Chung et al., 2016; Karam, 2019;

MacNair, 1999, 2001, 2002a, 2002b, 2002c, 2008, 2015; McGlothlin, 2020; Mohamed, 2015;

Roldán-Sevillano, 2021). Although perpetrator trauma has been established, the available literature

has focused primarily on people who have perpetrated violence in their line of duty (Karam, 2019;

MacNair, 2001, 2002b, 2007, 2012, 2015; Mohamed, 2015), with comparatively limited focus on

offenders, in particular juvenile offenders.

Mental health studies on the juvenile offender population established that approximately 6% to

19% of juvenile offenders tend to suffer from PTSD or trauma-related symptoms (Facer-Irwin

et al., 2019; Gottfried & Christopher, 2017; Tsang, 2018; Wilson et al., 2013). However, in much

of these f‌indings, emphasis was placed on childhood adverse events and previous victimization as

possible causes for their trauma (Cauffman et al., 1998; Dutton, 1995; Farina et al., 2018; Wilson

et al., 2013). The offenders’violent acts have been overlooked as an explanatory factor for the

trauma, with minimal research (Gray et al., 2003; Harry & Resnick, 1986; Ternes et al., 2020) focus-

ing on the offenders’violent offending as a possible cause for their trauma. This study aimed to

explore and describe the presence of perpetrator trauma among violent juvenile offenders.

Perpetrator Trauma Among Combat Veterans and Beyond

The bulk of perpetrator trauma research has been conducted among combat veterans as the point

of reference. Various military-based studies and literature exploring the post war adjustment of

Mahlako et al. 371